Now, I get that even if they had called it, the play would have resulted in a safety anyways, but it was obvious that they intended to hold to allow the punter to use as much time as possible. They have rules to prevent teams from taking a penalty in order to save time, shouldn't there be a rule to prevent teams from playing illegally to kill more time?

Ravens cornerback Cary Williams called shoving a ref “a reaction,” and said he didn’t know who he was moving out of the pile during the second quarter fight that would have drawn more attention if it wasn’t followed by a brownout.

But he also called the 49ers “a little dirty,” and said his helmet was “kicked off.”

After Ed Reed’s interception triggered an altercation (“brawl” seems excessive, perhaps “melee” fits better) Williams clearly shoved an official with two hands, and could have been ejected on the spot.

“It was a situation where I didn’t see who the heck I pushed,” Williams said, via Lindsay Jones of USA Today. Those guys kicked my helmet off, took my helmet off man, it’s just a part of the process. Whatever.

“It’s a reaction. You see teammates out there getting hit late, guys pulling guys after the whistle. My helmet came off, I couldn’t barely see, and I just reacted. It is what it is.”

Williams correctly assessed that the fight was the result of nearly a half of chippy play that went unchecked, and was eventually going to boil over because game officials didn’t have control of the proceedings.

“The offensive line trying to be tough. Be tough between the whistles man. Don’t pull that crap after the damn whistle, man. I mean, I just felt like those guys were a little dirty. The refs should have thrown flags on them early on them in the game to stop that junk,” Williams said. “Sometimes you’ve got to retaliate, sometimes you have to show people we aren’t going to be pushed around. We do this. That’s been part of the Ravens defense for years, to show toughness, but we do it between the whistles.”

He was fortunate he was able to do it at all in the second half, as he should have been sitting in the dark with the fans watching.

Yeah....bullshit.

Not knowing who you were pushing is one thing.....but following the ref around screaming at him while you're teammates are trying to hold you back is completely different. Dude should have been ejected.

So what was his explanation for continuing to scream at the ref and follow him around for?

He was going after the 49er and the ref continued keep them apart. He really should have been ejected for that push though. It's not like he couldn't see who he was shoving.

Overall, I liked that the teams moved the ball and not the zebras, still like others have said it's hard to accept that two of the most physical teams in football didn't hold the living hell out of each other on a lot of plays.

The Ravens only penalties where roughing the QB and running into the kicker? Wow.

there has to be a line that's not crossed. Being excited and passionate is not an excuse. One of those refs could get hurt really bad. Some 6'7" 330 lb lineman gets pissed off in a pile and takes a swing at a ref. He could end up with more than a black eye.

Not knowing who you were pushing is one thing.....but following the ref around screaming at him while you're teammates are trying to hold you back is completely different. Dude should have been ejected.

The non-call when Crabtree was held in the end zone was total bullshit. The announcers tried to justify the non-call by saying both guys were putting their hands on each other. To me it looked like Crabtree was held and was trying to fight off the guy holding him. That would have been the winning touchdown. I like the idea of letting guys play, but that doesn't mean you let the defense get away with murder. (Unless it's Ray Lewis, of course.) :-)

If the zebras are going to make that extremely questionable PI call that kept the Ravens drive alive that led to the winning field goal, they ought to at least be consistent.

The non-call when Crabtree was held in the end zone was total bullshit. The announcers tried to justify the non-call by saying both guys were putting their hands on each other. To me it looked like Crabtree was held and was trying to fight off the guy holding him. That would have been the winning touchdown. I like the idea of letting guys play, but that doesn't mean you let the defense get away with murder. (Unless it's Ray Lewis, of course.) :-)

If the zebras are going to make that extremely questionable PI call that kept the Ravens drive alive that led to the winning field goal, they ought to at least be consistent.

The holding call at the end wasn't going to happen. No way the refs call that....especially because of the situation.

The non-call when Crabtree was held in the end zone was total bullshit. The announcers tried to justify the non-call by saying both guys were putting their hands on each other. To me it looked like Crabtree was held and was trying to fight off the guy holding him. That would have been the winning touchdown. I like the idea of letting guys play, but that doesn't mean you let the defense get away with murder. (Unless it's Ray Lewis, of course.) :-)

If the zebras are going to make that extremely questionable PI call that kept the Ravens drive alive that led to the winning field goal, they ought to at least be consistent.

When the safety play happened (which I didn't think was a good strategy to start with), I was shocked at how blatant the hold was. I see the point that you have to let the play continue, but that's a big loophole. If you want to kill 3 minutes, you can snap the ball to your most elusive running back, just tell every blocker to grab and bear hug the defender and hold them on the ground, and the runner can run all over the field trying to beat the one defender who isn't being held on the ground.